Fade To Black
by Intern of SHIELD
Summary: Alison and Courtney were always the ones their parents cared about,  even after 'Alison' died and 'Courtney' was sent to Radly, Jason, and his little brother, Cole, simply faded to the black. But now Cole's making a name for himself in Rosewood.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: First PLL fic (for the books). Set in Flawless. Toby will not die and The Jenna Thing will be more like it is in the show.**

* * *

><p>Cole looked up from his desk, biting into a Granny Smith apple as the door opened to Mr. Radcliff's first hour homeroom at Tate Prep School. A near deathly pale, maybe 6'1", lanky guy walked in, dressed in faded, ripped blue jeans, with a black short-sleeve button up shirt unbuttoned all the way with a white tanktop under it, donning black Convese Chuck Taylor boots. "Hey, you must be Toby," Josh, aka Mr. Radcliff, said. "You can sit by Mr. DiLaurentis over there." He pointed at the empty desk next to Cole.<br>Toby nodded navigating his way towards the desk. "Hey," the dark haired male said to Cole. Cole looked over at him, remembering his little sister's warning; though he hated Alison bitterly. _Stay away from Toby Cavanaugh._ He'd heard what he'd done to his step-sister, though he hated Jenna about as much as he hated the twin sisters. Cole never really talked to Toby though they shared classes pretty much since kindergarden, maybe a few times when they had to do projects in Science or some other class.  
>Cole nodded his head, onyx blue-black hair drooping over his own green eyes. Everyone questioned who his parents were, since both his sisters and Jason had blond hair and blue eyes. Yeah at times he was <em>praying<em> that he was accidently switched with some other bald baby that just happen to be two months premature and most people were pretty sure he was Native American, with dark tan skin that made him look like he belonged in a casino or on a reservation. Once again: questioning parentage.  
>He liked Jason, who wasn't as much of a stick in the ass as most of his realitives. The two boys were a few years apart, Cole living in a house Jason had let him live in after their family moved out of town.<br>"Hey Cole!" Jake Fields yelled. Cole looked back at his friend over the few people sperating them, who was kicking a black Midnight 32 Metal Dragonfly hacky sack towards Gaven Wolf. "Up for a round?"  
>"Sure Jake," Cole yelled back, sliding the chair back and walking over to the circle joining in after Zack Wilden kicked it to him. As he hit it towards Chris Kahn he looked back at Toby, green eyes flashing blue before concentrating on the circle once more.<p>

* * *

><p>"Heard about Toby moving back," Jason said, making Cole jump as he walked into the spacious apartment. The older DiLaurentis laughed, standing up and grabbing his little brother in a bear hug before putting him in a headlock and rubbing his fist against the black haired boy's head. Cole tried to release himself from his brother's assult, resulting in the two DiLaurentis boys landing back first onto the hardwood floors and groaning in unison from the pain coursing up their spines. Cole got up using the door knob, his grip nearly evading him as it turned, which would have caused him much more pain. "Hey little bro, you grew up since the last time I saw you," Jason laughed ruffling the black mass of fur on the younger male's head.<br>"Yeah a month ago. Why didn't you call and tell me you were coming, and how long are you staying?" Cole questioned, locking the front door before grabbing his bag off the floor and walking into the living room, throwing it on a black leather couch before sitting down on Gunmetal Substation Keyboard stool and turning on his Sharp Elite PRO-X5FD LED TV, 70 in, 1080p, 240 Hz screen with surround sound; X-Box 360 and a PS3 hooked up to it. Yeah, his apartment was pretty much a man cave.  
>"Ready to get rid of your older bro already?" Jason joked, rasing an eyebrow as he looked at the magizenes on the black coffee table that looked awfully like a substation table.<br>Cole rolled his eyes. "Ya know you are the only one of my relaitives I will allow to stay here, period. I just wanted to know since I'm probably gonna have some of the pack over, warn them you'll be here... doing whatever it is older brothers do when they drop in on their younger brother's apartment unannouced and give them heart attacks," Cole replied, glaring pointively at his elder brother while he said the last section of words. "Your room's still where it was last time you visited, I am assuming that you already have your shit in there, unpacked. Where are my dogs?"  
>Suddenly four masses of fur ran out and attacked their owner. A black Boston terrierScottish terrier mix jumped onto Cole's lap, licking his face happily with his paws in his owner's chest. He laughed, pushing the pup away, scratching his head before setting him on the the ground, where he scampered over to the older DiLaurentis. Next was a Pitbull/German Sheppard/Rottweiler/Black Lab mutt with about a million different other breeds in her, who lapped at his hand begging for attention. "Hey baby," he said, kissing the dog's head before scratching her belly, resulting in her foot tapping the floor repeatively.  
>Lastly were the two wolfSamoyed puppys who were waiting patiently while the other canines mauled their housemate. They hopped up into his lap, ice blue eyes staring at him expectaintly, pink tongues hanging out of their grinning mouths. They were his babies, to the fact he'd found them at 2 weeks old abandoned in Philidalphia, barely alive. He took them back to Rosewood and nursed them back to health. Caleb was mostly black and a bit heftier than his brother, Dante, who was pure white except for the black ring around her left eye. Cole's friends joked that he'd given the mutt a black eye.  
>"Hey guys did you miss me?" Cole asked as he petted them.<br>"So, who are you with now?" Jason asked.  
>His brother looked up at him from the dogs in his lap, "Keith Smith, goes to Rosewood Day."<br>"Ah, he's better then the slut you were dating last time I was here, what was her name? Jenny? Jayla? Jenna? Jamie?" Jason started listing off names similiar but no where close to the right name.  
>"Jessica," Cole retorted.<br>Jason nodded, looking at the images flickering across the screen.

* * *

><p><em>Toby looked at Cole, smirking daringly, deep blue eyes flickering steel-green before returning to their usual color. "So, you're one of us too?" Jake questioned. Cole growled at the light haired male telling him to back off, or better yet scram. Jake slightly tilted his head, turning from the two males, disappering into darkness. The sound of a door slamming shut reverberated through the room.<br>"Should keep your pack in line DiLaurentis," Toby taunted, starting to circle him slowly, each step with his black army boots corrupting the slience in the room. It was cold and neither was shivering though both of them were in shortsleeved shirts, Cole's a black Tapout t-shirt that was probably too big for him, and Toby a red button up short sleeved shirt, the top four buttons unbuttoned, showing off his pale skin and the necklack Cole had given him when they were in fourth grade. He never remembered giving it to him, or the reason why he did, but he had.  
>Cole scoffed turning his head so he could watch the other male, "You should know by now it's not my pack, Cavanaugh. Never was, never will be."<br>Toby subtly inching towards his prey, Cole not even noticing until the slightly taller male was standing directly infront of him. "You sure about that? Because I've heard the beta has his sights on you for his beta once he becomes alpha," Toby retorted.  
>"I'ma refuse if he does. I'm not running this pack, I'm not living up to my family!" Cole hissed back, teeth clenched as he stared at Toby. He cold smell Toby's breath as it blew in his face. Mint and rain.<br>Suddenly Cole felt lips press against his forcably and realized Toby was fucking _kissing_ him._

Cole jolted up, panting heavily, his thin black sheets plastered to his nearly naked body. His two wolf mixes sleeping on either side of him in the King sized bed, seemingly not disturbed by their "dad's" nightmare.  
>The scent of rain and mint flooded his senses within miliseconds of Cole waking from his slumber. His lips were warm.<br>It'd just been a dream. Right?


	2. World so Cold

Cole looked down off the balconey, contemplating what he was going to do. The cold September night air cut through his clothes, resulting in him shivering. There was going to be a storm within the next fourty-five minutes by the scent drifting from the north, along with the faint claps of thunder echoing through the town.  
>Gods he had never had dreams that vivid before. And he'd never really spoken to Toby Cavanaugh, even thought about him either; now all the sudden on the same day the male came back to Rosewood he'd had a dream about him, where Toby had fucking <em>kissed<em> him.  
>The youger DiLaurentis son sighed, listening to the music pouring from his black Motorola S9-HD wireless headphones. He loved these headphones though some times they made him feel like a douche when he wore them.<br>He probably should be going back to sleep but usually when he has a bad dream (he wasn't exactly calling it that) after he fell asleep again it usually wasn't any better. He wasn't going to take that chance.

_"I always knew that you'd  
>Come back to get me<br>And you always knew that  
>It wouldn't be easy<br>To go back to the start  
>To see where it all began<br>Or end up at the bottom  
>To watch how it all ends<br>You tried to lie and say  
>I was everything<br>I remember when I said  
>I'm nothing without you<em>

_Somehow I found  
>A way to get lost in you<br>Let me inside  
>Let me get close to you<em>"

Cole closed his eyes, images flickering on the backs of his eyelids. Keith's blond hair, light gray eyes that looked like storm clouds when he was pissed, and lightly tanned skin. His boyfriend's not-so-full lips that were almost in a permanate pout.  
>Slowly the male before him started to change; blond hair becoming darker; the tan drained from his skin leaving him pale; and storm gray eyes pooling into dark blue.<p>

_Change your mind  
>I'll get lost<br>If you want me to  
>Somehow I found<br>A way to get lost in you_

_You always thought that  
>I left myself open<br>But you didn't know  
>I was already broken<br>I told myself that  
>It wouldn't be so bad<br>Pulling away you took  
>Everything that I had..."<em>

Cole cussed, pressing the skip forward button on the headphones. He was thankful for the cold air outside, because he desprately needed it after the thoughts that had ran through his head.  
>Great, just fucking great, now he was getting under his skin like no one else could, not even any of his exs, female or male, or Keith.<br>He grunted, hauling himself over the balconey railing and landing on the roof of the next apartment, running towards the ledge.

_"To pick up the tip doesn't mean a lot  
>Fiddle inside your drawers<br>If we own the night, then spread it out  
>Or pack up without a clue<em>

_Well, caused by their own  
>And by default<br>Time to vamanos_

_Like your face getting forced to the floor_

_Then I got a taste of the benefits  
>Five foot and change<br>There's no better way to hash it out  
>So let's set up your time to fail<em>

_Well, cause now the cracks  
>Should we intervene?<br>I hold this albatross_

_Like your face getting forced to the floor  
>When either way, you're way too close to it all<em>

_Pay up, never wait 'em out  
>Clever, Made off, take it all<br>Take it all_

_Your  
>Mouth<br>Blessed_

_Take it all the way... right back down_

_Clueless  
>Mess<em>

_Pay up, never take it all  
>Take it all<em>

_Like your face getting forced to the floor  
>In a league of your own,<br>And either way you're way too close to it all  
>You cannot veto the world<br>Like your face being forced to the floor  
>In a league of your own,<br>And either way, you're way too close to it all_

_Too close to it all"_

* * *

><p>Jason woke up around six twenty-five in the morning to the sounds of thunder and two dogs whimpering and scratching at his bedroom door. They had to be Cole's two wolf mutts since Lindsey and Rex were in his room currently. Jason groaned, rolling off his warm bed and opening the door only to find, he had been right, Caleb and Dante staring up at him, whining. "What?" He asked them sleepily. The two brother canines turned and padded to Cole's bedroom door, Jason following close behind.<br>He looked inside his little brother's room and understood why they were destressed. His little brother wasn't there, and probably no where in the house where the dogs hadn't checked. So Jason set out to find him. You see Cole was like a little kid who was playing hide and seek or had just disappered for a few hours, you'd look every where for him, then a few hours later he'd be in the same place you already checked twenty times over.  
>Jason groaned when he couldn't find the younger male in the apartment, leaning against the counter in the kitchen. He looked up when the front door opened and Cole walked in, his clothes clinging to him from the rain, his headphones in his right hand. "Where were you?" Jason interagated.<br>"I was out for a run," Cole replied, setting the headphones on the counter before opening the black stainless steel refridgerator and grabbing a small Granny Smith apple.  
>"Since when? You looked soaked to the bone," Jason pointed out.<br>Cole thought about it as he crunched on his apple. "Midnight maybe," Cole finally answered after a few moments.  
>"Leave a note next time," Jason scolded him as the black haired boy walked towards his room.<br>Cole retorted with, "Whatever you say mother." before shutting his door. He placed the headphones on the dresser and threw the apple core in a wastebasket. He then proceeded to the master bathroom, carefully stripping out of his sopping clothes that way he didn't leave that much water for him to clean up after his shower.  
>He dropped the dripping clothes onto the tiled floor before taking the bracelets off his wrists and climbing into his large shower.<br>The water was on the heated side of warm, and Cole was honestly comptemplating taking a steam shower, though he decided against it. The bodysprayers (he may not like showing off his wealth, but he wasn't not going all out in his man cave) massaged his aching muscles. So maybe a six hour run wasn't a good idea but he needed to clear his head.  
>It hadn't worked though since he was still freaked about something that probably wasn't ever going to happen anytime soon. The hot water washed away the sweat (which probably wasn't even there) and the cold storm rain.<br>The male climbed out after about ten minutes, drying off with a big fluffy black towel then headed into his room to find a pair of boxers then fall into bed. Cole first turned on his raido, filling the apartment with the sound of loud rock music.  
>He pulled on a pair of black boxers then crawled into bed, Dante jumping up then curling up next to his "dad" as he drifted to sleep.<p> 


	3. cant trust dogs

Cole met up with Jake behind his house in the woods later that day, the storm clouds still hanging ominously overhead, threating to spill on them at any moment. "Wait, _what_?" He asked once they were far enough away from the house. "You had a wet dream about _who_?"  
>Cole rolled his eyes at his best friend's exageration. Jake was his second-in-command, pretty much, ever since he met him in Rosewood Day Elementry when when they were eight. Their little sisters were in the same grade but hated each other while the two boys were became best friends.<br>Mrs. Fields did not want her son associating with him though for a few reasons: his family, she saw that Cole was going to turn out. And the one that pissed him off the most, because he was red. In later years she added onto that list; his sister Alison, how he dressed, his religion, which he openly expressed, and the fact he was bisexual. Mr. Field liked him though, inviting Cole over for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter (evern if Cole didn't celebrate any of those holidays), family dinners, football games, even to stay the night after his parents threw a bitch fit about for some reason or after one of their hockey matches. Cole liked Mr. Fields.  
>"Yes Jake, the one and only, imfamous Toby Cavanaugh," Cole retorted, jumping over a dead branch. "I have no clue why, but yeah."<br>"Are you loco man? This is the guy who blinded his sisyer by lighting a fucking firework, in seventh grade," Jake hissed at him. "I know you have this thing for guys who have a track record but dude, him?"  
>Cole ran his hand over his face. "I don't like him Jay, it was just a dream, well two," Cole admitted, making Jake slap his hand to his forehead.<br>"Sure you don't like him, because having two dreams about him makes it seem like you do," Jake replied. Cole pushed his friend into a tree. "Keith will be so disappointed."  
>Cole snarled at him, eyes flashing dark navy blue, "You tell him you die."<br>Jake raised his hands in defeat, exposing his neck in submission. Though Cole was no where near an alpha, nor would the young wolf ever be one, it was nice to see a sign of submission every once in a while, with the blood of powerful alphas running through his veins. "Don't worry I won't. I'm not gonna rat out my best friend out," Jake assured him.  
>Cole nodded, looking up at the dark sky.<p>

* * *

><p>Monday came too fast for Cole. Jason had left late Sunday night and both Saturday and Sunday nights he'd woken up from either a nightmare or a really... nice dreams about Toby. Jason asked him if everything was ok when he walked into the living room to see Cole curled up on the soft black couch watching <em>Torchwood<em> and _The Fades_ on BBC America with Caleb curled up at his feet and Dante in the chair across from them. He'd lied, of course, and Jason probably hadn't believed him at all, but he left it alone.  
>The fourth and final dream he had had that night was one of the worse. He'd woken up in a cold sweat, a scream choked in his throat and the sheets tangled up in his legs. He'd dreamed of death before, but... it was different when it was Toby being killed for some reason. Cole swept his hair out of his eyes as he opened his locker, looking to his left to be greated by Chris Kahn. "Hey Cole," he said.<br>"Hey Chris," Cole replied, pulling his black iPod Nano out of his shorts pocket, then second guessing himself and returning it. "Jason left last night just so you know." Chris nodded, waiting for Cole to shut his locker so the could go to homeroom.  
>Cole sat down in his seat, putting his headphones in his ears, not really in the mood to play hacky sack. He pulled out a pencil and started to draw on the back of his English paper, which he probably should be doing but decided against.<p>

_Here I lie forever  
>Sorrow still remains<br>Will the water pull me down and wash it all away  
>Come and take me over<br>Welcome to the game  
>Will the current drag me down and carry me away<br>Suddenly the light begins to fade_

_HOPELESS  
>I'm falling down<br>FILTHY  
>I can't wake up<br>I can not hold on  
>I will not let go<br>WORTHLESS  
>It's over now<br>GUILTY  
>There's no way out<br>I can not hold on  
>I will not let go<em>

_Silent I go under  
>I am not afraid<br>I can see the daylight shine  
>And slowly drift away<br>Safe to say it's over  
>Sink into the grave<br>There is nothing left inside  
>But I am wide awake<br>I can hear the devil call my name_

_HOPELESS  
>I'm falling down<br>FILTHY  
>I can't wake up<br>I can not hold on  
>I will not let go<br>WORTHLESS  
>It's over now<br>GUILTY  
>There's no way out<br>I can not hold on  
>I will not let go."<em>

He looked at the completed picture and groaned internally. Though most probably couldn't tell, he knew he had just drawn Toby's profile, with black wings spead out behind him, tattered and destoryed. He paused the music, taking the headphones out of his ears. "That's good," a deep voice said to his left.  
>Cole looked over at Toby, attempting and failing to block out the images from the last few nights, the good and bad. "Thanks," he replied. In his perphreial vision he could see Jake grinning stupidly, meaning that he would kick Cole's ass if he didn't do something. "Hey Toby, you wanna hang out later?"<br>The blue eyed male nodded, "Sure." Cole felt deeply sastisfied with himself as he flipped his paper over and started to do the homework.

* * *

><p>"You have dogs?" Toby questioned as Cole unlocked the door to his apartment.<br>Cole nodded, "Please don't tell me you're alergic." He set his bag down on the counter in the kitchen. "Feel free to leave your stuff anywhere and eat anything you want."  
>Toby placed his bag next to Cole's before following him into the living room. "No, I have a dog myself, just wondering," he replied.<br>Rex was the first to come running into the living room to greet his owner's new friend. The black haired DiLaurentis picked him up, scratching his head. "Rex this is Toby Cavanaugh, Toby, my Scottie/Boston Terrier mix, Rex," Cole introduced them to each other.  
><em>"I like this one better than Keith,"<em> Rex barked. Cole smacked him on the muzzle, attempting to keep a blush from creeping up his face.  
><em>"Go get the others,"<em> Cole barked at the black mutt. Rex hopped down, the padded over to Toby, planting his furry rear end on the hardwood floor.  
>Tpby leaned forward and petted Rex earning him a wet tongue to his pale hand before the mutt scampered off to find the other three dogs. "Is he always like that when he meets new people?" Toby prodded. Cole shook his head absently. "Nice place, big for one person though."<br>"My brother's paying for it, he stays here sometimes. Plus my friends can't stay away from the apartment that's just on massive mancave,'s Cole replied turning on the flatscreen. _Battlestar Galactica_ was playing on BBC America so he switched it to SyFy where there was a marathon of _Primeval_, series one, playing.  
>Seconds later Rex, along with Cole's other three dogs, came scurring into the living room, Lindsey heading straight for Cole while Dante and Caleb padded over to Toby, sitting down directly in front of both of his legs, carefully surveying him. "These are the other three full time residents; this is Lindsey, a mutt with so many breeds in her that it would be impossible to list them all. She's a little brat, aren't you?" He directed the question to Lindsey. "And those are my boys, Dante and Caleb. Dante's got the black eye while Cole's full black. Saymoid wolf mixes the both of 'em. Had 'em since they were two weeks old." Caleb padded forward and crouched down, waving his butt before jumping onto Toby's lap and licking his face. Dante followed his brother's lead, ambushing Toby with a second wet tongue. Lindsey nodded her head in approval.<br>Great, even his dogs liked Toby more than they liked most of his friends.

* * *

><p><strong>Can anyone tell me the month Foxy's in in Flawless?<strong>


End file.
